What is Foley Art?
Among every cinematic term presently used mainly in the business of movies, like natural sounds, jump cuts, still-shots, natural sounds, backlighting, ambiance, location sounds, room tone, tracking shots, cross-cutting, direct sounds, mise-En-scene, storyboard, framing, sound loop, tilt-shots, and deep focus, there is only that every time pops up or emerged whenever production of sound is mentioned, as well as the term is “Foley”. Moreover, of those many who came across and might have been attentive individuals who occur to perform mainly in the main field, people may have perceived words like “Foley sheets”,”Foley walker”, “Foley editor”, “Foley reels”, “Foley Footsteps”, and “Foley studio”.
The word was mainly composed to illustrate “Foley art”, a technique of sound-effect utilized in movies at present in recognition and recall of “Jack Foley”, and also his several contributions towards the sound effect arts. Following Jack, people who at the moment practice the main trade mainly in the film business, the performer who generate the sounds people hear and watch in television as well as in movies, are these days referred to mainly as “Foley artists”. In addition, the art generally depicts a reformation of daily sounds which are attached or included in post-production mainly to record or filmed videos, like documentaries, television series, movies, videos of music, and also other types of media to improve the material audio quality (The Vintage News, 2022). These recreated sounds could be anything generally from water pouring, heartbeats, clothing swishing, footsteps, breaking glass sound-effects, and door squeaking, the sounds from weather such as rain, wind, and thunderstorm.
Figure 1: An artist of Foley at work. “Foley” is perceived as the special art of filming and recording sound effects of post-production in substantial time to align the picture. “Author / Vancouver Film School, CC-BY 2.0″
Source: The Vintage News. 2022
In 1831, “Jack Donovan Foley” was born on the 12th of April in Yorkville. Jack Foley was an Irish immigrant’s grandson and was also brought up in the Coney Island Seagate section, where Jack Foley completed his study from public school. Throughout this period, Jack Foley meet with Cary Grant, in Coney Island, he was perceived as a stilt walker, and after all, discontented with the climate, he chose to shift to California for work mainly as a “double and a stuntman” in a very little recording studio where Jack Foley made several connections and contacts.
Figure 2: “Scene still of Belshazzar’s feast in the Babylon central courtyard from 1916 silent film of D.W. Griffith, Intolerance”.
Source: The Vintage News. 2022.
Jack Foley career development and planning was interrupted because of “World War 1” in which Jack participate, contributing his nation as a group member of “American Defence society”, a team created to protect the Los Angeles supply of water and also stop and safeguard the water mainly from being poisoned as well as sabotage. After World War 1, he was helped and supported by his several contacts of studios in Hollywood, where apart from leading Jack sold also some dialogues of movies mostly to “Universal” as well as a great hobby and recreation that soon appears to be Jack Foley’s trade-in entire life. When absent-minded directing silence, he directed inserts mainly for the movie studio for different films (Jerner, 2019). In the time of real recording of a movie, no people bothered to record movement’s generic close-ups like leg approaching and hand taking up a weapon or gun that was included for effect afterward when the film was filmed. Jack Foley prepared the sets nad also graphics, and the essential models as well as props, and Jack Foley either coordinated someone or did it by own self to complete it instead.
The History of Jack Foley
Figure 3: Scene was presented from the Show Boat film of 1929, presenting “Joseph Schildkraut as Gaylord Ravenal” and “Laura LaPlante as Magnolia Hawks”
Source: The Vintage News. 2022.
The sound was presented to the films and Jack Foley also found himself generating body movement and footstep sounds for movie stars like Rock Hudson, Sandra Dee, Laurence Olivier, and Kim Novak. When afterward in the life of Jack Foley shared many work experiences and Jack said that the star “Rock Hudson” had very “deliberate” footsteps, the clipped sound of James Cagney, and the soft sound of Marlon Brando, thus they were required to be recorded accordingly.
Figure 4: In the year the 1930s, a man recorded the sound effects of a “SAW”.
Source: The Vintage News. 2022.
Throughout their life, Jack found himself operating on several films and also projects, most remarkably “Show Boat the year after”, “Melody of Love in 1928”, and the praised “Spartacus”. The movie “Operation Petticoat” won the “Golden Reel Award” of “Motion picture sound Editor” as a great appreciation and recognition of Foley’s work in the world of Hollywood.
The sound of Foley got its epithet from “Jack Foley”, the effects of sound artists who shaped as well as developed the technique. The effects of Foley work mainly with both to and with changing the sounds of the film which are recorded mainly on set that is called the “field recording”. Many scenes utilize a compound of Foley effects and also field recordings. “Foley” is perceived as a distinctive technique of sound effect that includes performing and creating day-to-day sounds for television shows and also films. Foley artists generate these kinds of sounds in a certain recording place or studio at the time of post-production, simultaneous with the main picture, to improve the audio quality. The sound effects of Foley are mainly used to improve and upgrade the movie’s auditory experiences. Foley could also be utilized to generally cover up unwanted and unpleasant sounds effects captured on the movie set in the time of filming, like passing traffic, overflying airplanes, and many more. He was the famous developer of multiple sound effect methods used in movies. Jack Foley is ascribed with creating a unique technique for performing different sound effects of Foley live as well as in “synchrony with the picture” throughout post-production of a movie. Accordingly, people involved in this particular trade are known as “Foley Artists”.
- To discusses Foley and analyses the Foley Grail book “The art of performing sound for film, Games, and Animation”.
- To discusses Jack Foley with more details and describes the meaning of Foley and how Foley sounds are used in movies, films, and animation.
The main objective of this study is to research Foley and examine the Foley Grail Book. This research also highlights Jack Foley, he was quite a person, and Jack Foley’s contributions mostly to the sound effect arts are a great story mainly in itself. Moreover, Jack Foley began in the business of motion pictures in the era of the silent picture and also lived his life through the most exciting period when lasting one night the entire industry changed to “sound moving pictures”.
According to Moffat, Selfridge, and Reiss (2019), sound effects include crucial cues for both viewers and listeners over a variety of media content. “Sound effects” are generally defined as non-speech and non-musical sounds utilized in many artificial contexts, like a video game, theatre, virtual reality, movies, and TV. The main sound effect purpose is to present a “diegetic context” of some activities and events, which is an effect of sound that exists mainly in the description of the main storyline.
Foley’s Career Development
In 1920, Jack Foley formed the Foley sound effects. The main assumption is that an artist and performer of Foley could perform a specific sound utilizing any objects or materials that might generate the notion of the Foley sound, instead of just utilizing real sound recordings. The narrative goes that any individual was seeking a series of chains mainly to clatter to form a scene of prison, and he pulled out only a set of keys, clattered them ahead of the microphone filming the sound. In addition, when they heard out, they were pleased and content with both the concept and results of the “Foley sound” was established. The major emphasis on generating a “bigger than life” sound effect was perceived as the crucial key founding factor of “Foley work”. A sound effect does not require being original, it just requires to be persuasive. This has generally resulted mainly in the notion of “hyper-realism”, which is ordinary in the sound design of Hollywood.
“Hyper-realism” is the concept in which a sound-effect must be larger, more real, and also extremely impressive than the actual world sound, thus as to generate a range of tension and also excitement. This is specifically common in several movies and TV explosions as well as the sound of the gunshot, where an original world filming of a “gunshot” is generally considered too mundane and monotonous contrast to the unnatural gunshot that is some fusion of much larger sounds, like an explosion, collapsing of building, the roaring of a lion, and car crash. Foley strives to present a similar notion with several performance sound effects, where every action and concept is notably over-performed and also each action or activity is made bigger than the original world case (Wennerberg, 2019). Furthermore, “Foley” expanded into a complete sphere of work, as professional artists of Foley could quite be found globally. The sound of Foley became well-known since it permitted a sound creator to perform, and act or generate the most desired sound-effect, and also simply synchronize it mainly with the activity. The control level that an artist of Foley had across the Foley sound was better than before. Considerably in the similar method that “Foley sound” authorized for performance, interaction, and also control of a “sound”, the synthesis of sound could be authorized for control across digital digitizers Formerly, the only method to “digitise” a sound effect was to shoot it. At present people could model a Foley’s sound and also manage its parameters mostly in the original time. This generates a large commonly occurring sound, significantly as control could be obtained from the real parameters, and therefore the listener’s expectation is fulfilled when each little interaction and information they have creates a predictably distinctive sound. As such, mainly in many ways synthesis of sound could be considered “digital Foley”.
As per the opinion of the Gan et al (2020), “Foley music” a process which could integrate credible music and also sound for “silent video clips” regarding individuals playing instruments of music. The system of Foley sounds or music is to create impressive music mainly from recordings and videos.
How Foley Effects are Created
The researcher will employ interpretivism research philosophy as the interpretivist research ideology is founded on its basic premise also that analyst has a crucial responsibility in noticing its cultural landscape. Per this study approach, analysis is focused around and is determined by the study’s desires.
The research will utilise deductive research approach for the study. Individuals commonly equate detailed inquiry including a deductive methodology to studies (Nowell et al., 2017). The analyst looks at that which everyone else has completed, interprets previous assumptions about what occurrence they have been researching, and afterwards exams suppositions which originate from such concepts.
Explanatory investigations will be utilised in the study to determine why an effect happens. Only as result, the whole form of sampling is frequently individual of several phases inside these qualitative studies, representing like a springboard for additional investigation (Guest, Namey and Chen, 2020). Since there is frequently information available regarding one’s subject, it’s indeed feasible that the specific clear correlation individuals were indeed involved through is not being thoroughly researched.
Qualitative data collection method will be utilised in the study. Qualitative information compilation is essential through planning but also assessment because it allows individuals to gain insight together into dilemma but also obtain a rational experience upon that. The qualitative information recorded provides the experts including a thorough examination of such source material (Aspers and Corte, 2019). When gathering qualitative, studies have tended to investigate attendees but also therefore can assemble a wealth of details besides conducting an assessment (Aspers and Corte, 2019. A qualitative methodology, as opposed toward a rationalist paradigm, is somewhat more accessible, casual, but also unorganised and otherwise moderately, so that allows for greater versatility through information gathering.
The report would then be based on secondary data sources. Secondary knowledge is acknowledged to become more widely obtainable than primary data collected (Phillippi and Lauderdale, 2018). Using certain citations requires not only a small range of researches, and moreover provided with training employees. Relevant secondary components also were commonly accessible, owing primarily toward the rise of desktop media coverage.
Thematic analysis will be employed because conceptual framework doesn’t really necessitate the thorough academic and technical skills necessary by outside qualitative studies, seems to be an effective approachable method of study, especially for those starting out during one ‘s scientific career. Thematic analysis has been beneficial since it allows everyone to analyse, from a constructivism pre-processing step.
All the ethical consideration will be followed throughout the study like any deceit or overstatement further about study’s targets but also strategies would be prevented. Allegiances whatsoever, available resources, and potential bias would all be disclosed.
Reference List
Aspers, P. and Corte, U., 2019. What is qualitative in qualitative research. Qualitative sociology, 42(2), pp.139-160. DOI: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11133-019-9413-7
Gan, C., Huang, D., Chen, P., Tenenbaum, J.B. and Torralba, A., 2020. Foley music: Learning to generate music from videos. In Computer Vision–ECCV 2020: 16th European Conference, Glasgow, UK, August 23–28, 2020, Proceedings, Part XI 16 (pp. 758-775). Springer International Publishing.
Guest, G., Namey, E. and Chen, M., 2020. A simple method to assess and report thematic saturation in qualitative research. PLoS One, 15(5), p.e0232076. DOI: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0232076
Jerner, J., 2019. On Exaggeration of Sound Detail as a Way of Affecting Perceived Realism in Sound Effects and Musical Instruments.
Moffat, D., Selfridge, R. and Reiss, J.D., 2019. Sound effect synthesis. In Foundations in Sound Design for Interactive Media (pp. 274-299). Routledge.
Nowell, L.S., Norris, J.M., White, D.E. and Moules, N.J., 2017. Thematic analysis: Striving to meet the trustworthiness criteria. International journal of qualitative methods, 16(1), p.1609406917733847. DOI:
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1609406917733847
Phillippi, J. and Lauderdale, J., 2018. A guide to field notes for qualitative research: Context and conversation. Qualitative health research, 28(3), pp.381-388. Available at:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jana-Lauderdale/publication/315944152_A_Guide_to_Field_Notes_for_Qualitative_Research_Context_and_Conversation/links/5eb2fb8445851523bd496666/A-Guide-to-Field-Notes-for-Qualitative-Research-Context-and-Conversation.pdf
The Vintage News. 2022. Jack Foley: The artist who brought natural sound into motion pictures. [online] Available at: <https://www.thevintagenews.com/2017/07/12/jack-foley-the-artist-who-brought-natural-sound-into-motion-pictures/> [Accessed 11 January 2022].
Wennerberg, D., 2019. Auditory immersion and the believability of a first-person perspective in computer games: Do players have a preference between mono and stereo foley, and is one perceived as more believable?.